John 8:21-29

3. “It is I.” 8:21-29.

Jesus had just applied to Himself the two principal symbols which the feast presented to Him. The following testimony completes the two which precede; it is a more general affirmation respecting His mission.

ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

Vv. 21-29.

1. Meyer holds that the words of John 8:21 f. were spoken on a different day from those of the preceding verses. Godet and others hold that it was the same day. Weiss (comp. Keil) regards the question as one which does not admit of a decisive answer. The position of Weiss is probably the correct one, but there seems to be no serious difficulty in supposing that all which is recorded in this chapter took place on one and the same day, the place only being changed at John 8:21.

2. In the words of Jesus contained in John 8:21 (comp. John 8:24) we find, in addition to what is said in the similar sentence in John 7:34, the words, You will die in your sin (your sins, John 8:24). As remarked in Note 11., 4, above, this clause seems to show that the seeking referred to is a seeking for the Messiah as connected with the securing of the life and blessings of the Messianic kingdom. With respect to these words two points may be noticed:

(a) That the words are addressed by Jesus to those to whom He had already presented Himself as the Messiah, and in John 8:24 the result mentioned is connected with not believing that He is what He thus claims to be.

(b) That dying in sin is apparently presented as a finality a limit beyond which the hope of entrance into the kingdom is excluded. This passage must be regarded as one of the most impressive ones in the New Testament, as indicating the termination of the period of probation at the end of this life. With regard to the question whether it can be properly understood as indicating this only in the case of those who have the knowledge of Christ given them before death, it should be observed, in the first place, that everything which Jesus said was, of course, said to those who heard Him and thus knew of His claims; secondly, that His general manner of teaching was that of addressing personally those who heard Him, and declaring to them the blessing or evil which awaited them, and not of giving doctrinal statements as appertaining to a theological system. The particular declarations of such a teacher are, in general, to be extended more widely from the individual example to mankind, than in the case of one who teaches in the other way.

(c) Death is evidently referred to, in these words, as if it were the great deciding- point in human history as related to the matter of escape from the consequences of sin.

(d) Jesus does not intimate anywhere else that the other (Gentile) nations will, unlike the Jews, have an opportunity of entering the Messianic kingdom after death. The indications of any such view on the part of the apostolic writers are also, to say the most that can be said, very few and very uncertain.

(e) The knowledge of Jesus as the Messiah and of the Christian system which the Jewish hearers of Jesus, generally speaking, can be said to have had when the contradiction of all their preconceived notions is considered: His refusal to assume earthly power, His obscure origin, His new idea of righteousness, His view of the Messianic kingdom, almost incomprehensible to their earthly mindedness, educated as they were under the influence of the Pharisaic teachers was, in reality, so little developed, that it is difficult to say how far allowances may not properly have been made for their ignorance, after a similar manner with those which it is thought must be made for the heathen. It is an assumption, which requires proof, that, when Christ and the apostles carried the Christian message to the men whom they chanced to meet, they placed them in an entirely new position, so far as the limiting of the probation is concerned. The proof needed is, to say the least, neither abundant nor decisive.

3. The words of John 8:23 seem to give the real ground of their continuance in sin and dying in it at the end. It was because they are from the things below and from this world. This was the reason why, when Jesus was presented before them as the Messiah, and as the way, the truth and the life, they did not believe in Him. The antecedent thing lying back of their unbelief was the state of their hearts and will. The refusal to believe, when He came to them, was only the outcome of this. It would seem, therefore, that the true view of the declaration of Jesus here is to be reached by taking the verses together. The man who is in the state of heart and will in which these Jews were, whoever or wherever he may be, will, if he remains in it, die in his sins, and dying thus will not be able to go to the place where Jesus is that is to say, will not have the blessedness of the eternal life in heaven.

4. Weiss agrees with Godet in making ἐκ τῶν κάτω ἄνω refer to the opposition of nature i.e., origin, and ἐκ τοῦ κοσμου κ. τ. λ. to the contrast of disposition and moral activity; and this, though not necessarily, is yet not improbably the correct view.

5. The two explanations of the difficult phrase τὴν ἀρχὴν κ. τ. λ. (John 8:25) which are found in the text of R. V. and in the margin of A. R. V. are the most satisfactory which have been offered: “ Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning,” and “ Altogether that which I also speak unto you. ” The use of τὴν ἀρχήν in each of these two senses is justified by examples. In the former case, He declares that He is what He has been telling them even from the beginning of His public discoursing that is, the Messiah, the one sent from God, the one who has seen God and come forth from God to bring the full revelation of Him to the world. In the other case, the meaning may perhaps be the same, except that the idea of from the beginning is not contained in the words; or it may more probably be this: that the answer to the question will be found in the words of Jesus: “Fathom my speech and you will discern my nature ” (see Godet's note).

6. The connection of John 8:26 is rather with John 8:25 than John 8:24. The prominent thought of this verse is in the last part of it. The verb λαλῶ, which occurs in John 8:25-26; John 8:28, seems to show a close connection in thought throughout these verses, and to favor the idea that in the discoursings of Jesus was to be found the truth with regard to Himself. It will be noticed that the λαλῶ of John 8:26; John 8:28 refers to a speaking forth of what was given to Him by the Father to proclaim. This indicates that the λαλῶ of John 8:25 also has a similar reference at least, that it represents Jesus, in answer to their question, as the one sent from God as a messenger and revealer. The whole context, therefore, is rather favorable than otherwise to the view given in A. R. V. marg. that the meaning of John 8:25 is, Altogether that which I also speak unto you. The bearing of all this upon the meaning of ἐγώ εἰμι, of John 8:24, is towards the conclusion that the predicate of εἰμι is he i.e., the one sent or the one from above, the Messiah and that these words are not to be understood as meaning I am, in the sense of Deuteronomy 32:39.

7. In regard to John 8:27, the explanation given by Weiss, with whom Keil essentially agrees, or that given by Godet, may be adopted. That the hearers of Jesus must have generally, or oftentimes, connected the words which He spoke with God, cannot be questioned. But, considering the fact that His declarations and teachings were so widely removed from the preconceived ideas of the people, it is not surprising that at times they should have failed to understand His meaning, or that they should even have misunderstood, at one time, statements which were apparently no less clear than those which they partially comprehended at another. The representations of John as to these understandings and misunderstandings are seen to be life-like, so soon as we place ourselves in the real condition and circumstances of the time.

8. John 8:28 refers to the time which follows the crucifixion and ascension. The declaration of this verse, you will know, etc., doubtless has its explanation in connection with the outpouring of the Spirit and the wider proclamation and triumph of the Gospel; but the probability is that it indicates the beginning of what will be realized in its fulness only as time passes onward. But even now, in the present and intermediate period, before the realization of this future, the Father, He adds, is still with Him; and whatever His enemies may do in rejecting Him, He is strong and victorious in the truth which He proclaims.

9. There is an evident unity of thought in this whole passage, and the closing words of John 8:29 present the opposite character of His state of mind and life to theirs, which will finally result in the fact that the place where He is to be will be closed to them.